Summing Up Italian Articles, Nouns, and Adjectives

In Italian, nouns have gender and number — masculine or feminine, and singular or plural. Articles (a, an, the, and so on), which are associated with nouns, are also masculine, feminine, singular, or plural according to the noun they refer to. So the English definite article the is either masculine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular, or feminine plural in Italian.

The following table shows how you can combine nouns and articles. Pay attention to the beginning letter of masculine nouns because the article changes according to this letter; this is why you see four versions of masculine nouns in the table.

Italian articles take the gender and number of the nouns they refer to, so the first thing you have to do is determine the gender and number of the noun you're working with. You'll find some examples in the first column. The second column helps you focus on the beginning letters of nouns, which is essential to find the correct definite and indefinite articles, shown in the third and fourth columns, respectively.

Adjectives provide details about the noun(s) they refer to. They take the noun's gender and number. Most masculine nouns end in -o (singular) or -i (plural), while most feminine nouns end in -a (singular) or -e (plural). Some nouns end in -e in their singular form and in -i in the plural, both for feminine and masculine forms.

Check the following table to see how adjectives and nouns agree in gender and number:

bianco

un foglio bianco (a white sheet of paper)

fogli bianchi (white sheets of paper)

bianca

una pagina bianca (a white page)

pagine bianche (white pages)

verde

un banco verde (a green desk); una penna verde (a green pen)

banchi verdi (green desks); penne verdi (green pens)

Qualifying adjectives usually follow the noun; however, all other modifiers — demonstrative, interrogative, possessive, and indefinite pronouns, as well as number — come before the noun:

Abbiamo letto un librointeressante. (We read an interesting book.)

Vorrei comprare questo libro. (I would like to buy this book.)

I tuoilibri sono nello zaino nero. (Your books are in the black book pack.)

Perché hai ordinatopochilibri? (Why did you order so few books?)

Qualilibri hai preso in prestito? (Which books did you borrow?)

È ilterzolibro che leggo su questo argomento. (This is the third book that I have read on this subject.)